Leto's drive Fenris's forgotten regrets
by Lori Mereel
Summary: This is the story of Leto, and how he won the marks that created Fenris
1. Chapter 1 the promise

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**here is my new story about Leto and his journey to becoming to the broody warrior we all so love in dragon age today. **

**I would like to thank my friend elaine and wsowen02 for their efforts in editing and brainstorming to make it fit much better. **

**Bioware own's dragon age. I own nothing. **

**~Lori. **

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"Leto" the girl's voice drifted to his ears from a distance, awakening him from the daydreams of monsters and heroes formed in the cloudy sky above. "Leto! where has he gone now?" Her voice grew closer as Varenia walked under the barn loft. He wiggled his young elven body to the edge of the hay loft so that he could see her standing beneath him. Her body was rigid with anger and frustration.

A mischievous smirk crossed his lips as he stood and leapt off the loft to land behind her. As soon as the jar of the land touched his is bent legs he pushed off into a roll landing again in a crouch. Even though the land was almost perfect, the shock of pain still rolled through his body. All of it was worth it to hear his sister's startled scream as she turned around in shock to face her kneeling brother.

Varenia's scream turned to a snarl of fury as she stepped over and pushed her brother over onto his back. "You little brat!" she hissed through her teeth as Leto's chiming laugh echoed through the rolling fields on the old farm.

"I hope you hurt yourself with that little stunt," Varenia huffed while Leto tried to catch his breath from laughing,"Mother wants you," and with that she stormed off back to the farm house.

Leto let the satisfaction roll though as he slowly stopped laughing. It was a perfect surprise attack and he was rather proud of himself for it. When a shadow fell across him, leaning his head back he saw the large form of his master standing over him.

"What do you think you're doing?" said a deep voice.

Leto quickly rolled over to a kneeling position and bowed his head low to his master. The man rarely spoke to the children except to give an order. Usually, he spoke only to their mother, letting her run his estate while the children ran free on the land, never complaining of the noise they made.

Now faced with the man, Leto was unsure of what to do. How do you respond to a masters direct question? Afraid of saying the wrong thing, Leto kept his head down and waited for the man to speak.

"You know, a sister can be a young boy's worst enemy or his greatest ally." the master words came out with a hint of amusement. Leto glanced up at his master's face, searching for the true meaning of his words. A smile was spread on his face as he lowered himself to the ground next to the boy looking towards the farm house. "She will get her revenge if you don't make it up to her."

There was brief silence before Leto's curiosity overcame him. "What can she do to me?" he asked, dropping to a sitting position next to man, making sure to keep his head down, as was proper.

"Oh, I don't know. She does a lot of the household chores, does she not? I see her running around the house helping your mother all the time. I can only imagine all the nasty little things she could do to you or your things," the master mused.

"I didn't think of that…" Leto brow furrowed at the thought of retaliation

"Where did you learn to move like that?" the master asked as he removed a piece of fruit from his pack and began to polish it with his shirt.

"It just felt right at the time," Leto mumbled.

"Just felt right... hmmm" the large man said, standing up. Then he reached down and grabbed the young boy by the scruff his shirt, lifting him to his feet. "How old are you anyways boy?"

"I am 8," Leto said, and, after a moments pause "master."

"8 years old" the master echoed as he strolled toward the farmhouse, pausing only to motion the boy to follow. "And still playing with sticks. What is it that I see you slaying out there, boy?"

"Darkspawn," Leto said sheepishly.

"Really? I thought there might be a dragon or two with some of those massive swings." the mastersurmised, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, yes! It was the archdemon and I was slaying him. Just like in the stories." Leto's eyes lit up with excitement at the imaginary memory.

"You want to be a grey warden, then boy?"

Leto lowered his voice, "no, master. I wish to serve."

His master chuckled softly."You know you can learn to fight and still serve. Many elven slaves of great masters learn how to fight to protect their masters."

"Really?!" Leto's voice shot up in a yelped.

"Yes, really, and I would say to any elven slave of mine who can leap like that, if he wants to learn certain skills that he might be able to learn them. as long as he doesn't use them on his poor sisters and does all of his chores" the master trailed off stopping to look at the boy before they walked through the kitchen door.

Leto's face beamed in excitement as he craned his head as high as it would go to look at his master's face searching in disbelief to what he was hearing. "Truly"

His master returned his smile. His master ruffled his dark hair and handed Leto the polished fruit. "Here Leto. Give this to Varenia and apologize. I will have your new chores list and training ready for tomorrow."

Leto accepted the fruit, smiling to himself as he wandered off into the warm kitchen, his mind drifting into the hopeful future ahead of him.

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**What did you think of my first chapter. i do plan on getting to at least the point of fenris life. **

**Remember Comments are Love.**


	2. Chapter 2 child at play

**Dragon age and all it's characters are owned by bioware. I own nothing. **

**Here is the next chapter in my Leto story. this more of an emotional piece to give you more of how leto will be living of in the next few years. there is one more chapter while his is this age before i move on to teenager. **

**again thank you to my friend Elaine and Wsowen for editing and brainstorming. You two are amazing. **

**~Lori**

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Leto flopped down on to the grass as he let his breath force its way in and out of his chest. His heart was racing the blood pounding in his ears, from carrying all the those rocks from the riverbed up to the the barn. There, the large mound of rocks would be used to build a pathway from the farmhouse to the stable entrance.

Caius, his master, told him it should take several days to a week to build a pile that large. The rocks were large and heavy. The river ran several hundred feet deep in the woods to the east of the estate. He was was to take his time over the week and get it done.

Leto had no desire to wait a week to get done with this chore. He had been working hard for months with the promise that he would begin training to use a weapon soon. And for months, whenever he asked his master about it, the large man would simply ruffle his hair. He would send him off with a new chore to do. Leto would enthusiastically attack the job until it was not only finished but, to his mind, prefect.

Lately, Leto had started to feel like he was being lied to; that his master had made him a promise to get him to start working harder on the estate. Maybe it was a punishment for teasing his sister so many times? He lay there, staring at the clouds that had lovingly formed pictures for him in the past but he saw nothing in the white the sweat roll off or dry off his skin at the droplets' will**. **He didn't know what to expect, he was the master's slave after all.

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Caius watched the young elf as he feverishly worked to gather rocks for a day and a half. The boy only stopped to drink and eat ravenously and to sleep at night. But no matter how tired he was, he would be up with the first rays of light. He had been waking like that everyday for the past few months since Caius had made his promise.

When he saw the boy finally collapse on the ground to take a rest he figured the boy needed to eat and hydrate. He did not expect to see the large pile of rocks as he walked up the hill to the boy. He couldn't believe the lad hadn't dropped of exhaustion long before now. Leto was not only determined and stubborn, but strong as well. He had to hand it to the young elf. He had been running out of things for the boy to do for weeks and coming up with more and more outlandish chores to push the young child's muscles.

He watched as the Leto slept with his lips slightly parted in the serene peaceful way that only children seemed able to do. He almost didn't want to wake the child, but knew that the boy need to at least drink somewhat or he would end up sick. So he sprinkled some water on his bare chest. Leto jumped from his sleep, glaring up the source of his harsh awakening. Seeing his master, his eyes and ears dropped, tilting his head in a bow "master"

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Leto must have fallen asleep because he woke with a start at the splash of water hitting his bare

chest. He jumped with the sudden shock of the cold hitting him. Gasping as he sat, he saw his master glancing down at him. He quickly lowers her his face in deference "Master"

The man knelt down next to the boy, handing him a pitcher of water. When Leto looked up, the older man gestured to the water. "Drink, before you dry up like a raisin."

Leto smiled at him and then started to gulp down the water until he his lungs forced him to stop to get a gasp of air. He was rewarded with a soft deep chuckle as his master sat down next to him. He took more moderate drinks after that. After a few moments of this, he was handed some cold meat, bread, and cheese. The boy ripped into it like a savage animal, somehow scarfing downthe food and giving a look of extreme pleasure as he tore into it. He only stopped eating to take deep swallows of the water from the pitcher. In no time, both were gone.

"Better?" Caius asked.

Wiping the moisture from his mouth, Leto shook his head with a smile. "Yes, Master"

"Caius." Confused, Leto looked at his master. Caius continued. "My name is Caius. And while we are here at the estate with no visitors, that is what I prefer to be called."

"But mother told me that I was to always show respect." Confusion and fear shown in the boy's eyes.

"Well, yes, that is how it's suppose to be." Caius ran his hand over his close cropped hair. "However, look at it from my point of view. All this time, I have lived at the estate with no one else, just three slaves calling me 'Master.' Wouldn't that make you lonely?"

Leto brows furrowed as he considered the possibility that his master might be lonely. It seemed foreign to him that any master could have feelings such as loneliness, but he didn't argue.. "yes.. ma.. Caius"

Leto was rewarded with a ruffle of his hair. This simple action bought a smile of to his face. He had come to understand that this action did not only represent his master being pleased with him, but more of a fondness, like when his mother hugged him or kissed him on the cheek. The action was reassuring to him. Looking up into his master Caius's eyes, he saw a warmth there as he smiled back.

"You know what tomorrow is?" the towering man said, producing one of the sweet fruits he seemed to always have with him and handing it to the boy. At the boy's questioning look. "it's the day you get to pick the weapon you will be training with."

Leto's jaw dropped in surprise before he jumped to his feet and started to a jump and cheer in excitement. Caius's heart filled with joy to see the boy so happy. He couldn't help but watch the excitement.

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Juliana watched through the window of the kitchen as she saw her young son chase her daughter around the field. She was squealing as her brother bolted after her, trying to take some object from her hands. The joy on her children's face was heart wrenching. Never had she seen two elven children, slave children, play so fierce and free. They had never known hunger or been beaten for a small mistake. It was mesmerizing to see them laugh.

She watched in surprise and horror when her master stalked up to them, only to catch her breath as she saw him swoop Leto up in the air with one arm. His little form dangling from the powerful arms. As he reached for for her daughter, who ran from his grasp, Juliana felt tears sting her eyes at the realization that the children were still laughing and squealing along with the roars of laughter coming from him.

She watched, spellbound, as the three of them played, until she saw Master Caius leave them to head to the kitchen. She continued with the kneading of the dough, focusing on it when he came in, panting.

"Where your boy gets all the energy from, I have no idea." His deep almost gravelly voice filled the room.

Looking up to the window, Juliana shook her head in acknowledgement. "Well, he eats like an army."

She felt him come over behind her to look out the window. "He carried all those rocks in less than two days. He is determined."

"Are you sure about this?" Juliana sighed "He is still a slave. I don't want him to forget his place."

"There will be a place for him in the army. He will serve and earn his freedom." Caius said gentle stepping closer to the elven women whispering in her ear. She tilted her head slightly when she felt his breath on her neck.

"I worry." the wavering elf whispered.

"Don't. You are safe. They are safe," he breathed softly before he leaned down, kissing her neck as he wrapping his arms around her waist. Juliana leaned into his chest, closing her eyes as she allowed him to brush her fears away.

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**So this was chapter too. I hope you all enjoyed it. **

**Remember Reviews are Love and I Love all my Reviews. **


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